The Glassing
by ParamedicJun
Summary: It's horrible to lose your home, your family, in a glassing. Burnt to nothing by aliens who don't even speak your language. But when you survive the worst that the Covenant can give you, you think you're done. But Hyde isn't. She finds out when her adoptive family imprisons her in their basement. Is Noble Team there to help her, or trap her again?
1. Chapter 1

**I hope people like this, it takes a look at the civilian side of the Human Covenant War. I want to publish more chapters but will only do so if people follow this. I worked very hard one this, so I hope that you will review. Even if the reviews aren't completely positive, please tell me what you think. **

The dimly lit kitchen was much smaller than all the military ones Commander Carter, A.K.A Noble One, had ever been in. It had white tiles on it's floor, wooden paneling on the walls, nice appliances his subordinate Kat would love to take apart, and a round table in the center, which made him think of the Round Table and King Arther, which he had read about in training.

"Where is she?", the firm Spartan asked. His deep blue armor made him look twice as big as he really was, and that was still huge.

"In the basement. It's locked up, in case it. . .", Mrs. Jekyll trembles as she speaks, her wavering voice trails off.

Great. Either the child's got problems or this woman does, thought Noble One. "Mrs. Jekyll, I need the full story."

"The thing changes at night. Talks in its sleep. Wakes us all up screaming about a glassing...it thinks there is Covenant above it every night.", Mrs. Jekyll confides, her hands shaking. Her graying brown hair is down and untidy, and the blue dress she slipped on when she heard the intruders enter her house was not becoming.

"And the child's been living with you how long?", the Noble team commander prodded.

"It's been here a year.", was the response. Mrs. Jekyll sounded like she was talking about a convicted murderer.

"How old is _he_?", Commander Carter hoped the woman would stop saying 'it'. You used 'it' for objects and Covenant, not glassing veterans, as was suspected. Most kids who came out of a glassing alive were orphans, and people adopted them out of pity, not personal liking. Often the foster families didn't notice the psychological problems until it was too late and the killed themselves. Military orphanages left the therapy to the foster families.

"Fifteen.", Mrs. Jekyll spat the word, seemingly angry to have to refer to her adopted child as human.

"Any other unusual behavior or conditions you would like to report, ma'am? ", the Noble One had this woman analyzed. She was not happy with the military, and was incensed that there were Spartans in her house.

". . . no. . . ", as she said this, the small woman averted her eyes like she had noticed more, but feared they wouldn't take their foster demon away if it had more problems. But, if the child didn't have problems, a team of Spartans wouldn't want to recall him. It was also suspected that the subject had valuable information.

"Would you allow us to take the child to a facility where he could get the care he needs?", Carter asked this knowing the answer. He didn't need words, Noble One could tell just from Mrs. Jekyll's face, but she replied anyway.

Mrs. Jekyll clasped her hands and prayed ,"Please God, take her!"Commander Carter turned away from the trembling woman and found the stairs to the basement. The door way to the stairs was narrow, and if it had been any smaller, Carter's six and a half foot frame couldn't have fit through. A cool, dank smell draped over everything, like darkness. Carter's subordinate, Emile, loomed in one corner. Though the basement was dark, the white skull painted on his helmet glowed like a ghost."He's in here, sir.", moans the deadly ghost, rapping lightly on the bedroom door of the subject. The sight of the door unnerved Carter, bringing back memories of what was behind closed doors at the Spartan academy. There was a vent at the top, Noble One couldn't see any light through it,"Emile, have you talked to the subject yet? ", Comm. Carter asked, pressing his ear up to the door, he could hear soft, easy breathing.

"No, sir. The doors locked. Need a key.", the ghost answers, glancing around the room uneasily, gun ready to fire at anything moving. Emile was jumpy when he was around civilians, sometimes he was down right violent. Normally he wouldn't be sent on such an interactive mission, but his usual substitute was busy.

"Okay. Send Jorge down with the key. Tell him he's gonna wake the kid up, so drop his weapons, and get ready to deal with some PTSD.", ordered the commander. As Emile's footsteps pounded up the stairs, Carter didn't hear the smaller, softer footsteps descending them. The footsteps belonged to a tall and thin teenage boy, with white blond hair and brown eyes. The boy held the look of a frightened, out-of-place mouse trying to be brave in the face of danger. You could almost see him trembling.

"What do you need, kid?", Carter asked, even he had a short temper when civilians interfered with a mission. And this one would probably interfere with them removing the subject in some way.

"Um, I'm Mason Jekyll, I'm friends with Jun.", he introduced himself, "She's got PTSD from getting caught in a glassing with her family. I tried to get my parents to get her treatment, but they did the worst thing and locked her down here. They call her 'it' right to her face, and were horrible whenever she had night terrors . . . are you here to get her treated? " Mason's voice wavered at first, but gained a strength and firmness.

"We're here to get the child treatment and see if she has any information on the Covenant or the rebels. Can you tell me about her ?", Noble One asked, hoping to find out if she could give the UNSC a boost, and noticing the child was, apparently, a girl.

"Her name's Jun Hyde. She hates to be locked in anywhere, and does a lot of exercise, to the point where she may pass out from working too hard. When she can, she eats pretty healthy, Jun really hates eating too rich or too processed foods, but she'll eat almost anything. You can tick her off pretty easily, and she pretends not to care, but she'll really worry. If someone gets her out of a scrape,or gives her a hand or even a bit of advice, she's very trusting. It's hard for her to cope when she gets moved around to much. Loves to fly, whiz at chemistry, great reader and runner. You gotta take care of her.", Mason said, his voice taking on an air of desperation. There was no useful information in his speech. Stuff for the asylum records, thought Carter.

"Look here, kid. There's very little point in telling me this. I won't be taking care of this girl, I'm just getting her out of here.",Carter was getting impatient, he had work to do. He was only here to extract the subject, then deliver her to a military base for analyzing. At that point, it was out of his hands. It wasn't like Spartans could adopt any object of interest at will.

"NO! You have to take care of her!She won't trust anyone else! ", the boy yelled so loud that the lieutenant commander and Jorge ran down the stairs to see what the matter was. The Commander looked upset, the boy stressed and angry. Mason was

Kat looked inquiringly at Carter,"Commander ? "

"Kat, escort this boy to his parents. He's been giving me some advice. Jorge, over here. Set your gun down.", Noble One gestured to the huge turret Jorge carried everywhere,"The subject's probably still asleep. She's going to be scared, she's got PTSD. You need to get her ready to go ."Carter watched as his second in command walked Mason up the stairs."Tell her I said Goodbye.", and he continued up the steps with Kat's firm grip on his shoulders.

"He was?", Jorge prodded .

"The son, I'll fill you all in later. You have the key?"

"Yes-sir. How do you suppose she's still asleep? We haven't exactly been quiet."

"Don't know. The way things are going, the family could've drugged her. But what studies of prisoners show us is that when a person is locked up, they tend to push themselves farther and harder in the way of exercise for lack of anything to do. Could be she's wearing herself down all day and passing out at the end. We don't know how much they feed her, and that kid told me the subject does a lot of exercise.", Carter replied. How did he know that again?

"I'm just anxious to get away from the civilians. These ones put even me on edge.",Jorge remarked.

"Get a move on, then." said Carter, then he thought,'Some types get to the best of us.'His Mark VI armor was starting to feel very heavy, he had performed over six missions in the last week with little break time. There was only one mission left after this one, and the Spartans of Noble Team were promised a long break after this. Jorge removed his helmet and unlocked the wooden

door, barely fitting through the small door frame. "Hello?", he called, but the only answer was a groan smothered by blankets,"Hey. Wake up.", he repeated softly.

The shadow in the bed moved around and turned a lamp on next to her bed. The girl was tall and thin ,she looked able, but not extremely strong. Black hair kept falling into her eyes as she tried to take in the hulking figure by her bed, and as she brushed it out of her face, Jorge noticed one eye was green and one gray."Who are you?", Jun asked, for lack of other words.

"My name is Jorge, Spartan II. You?", He knelt down to be eye level with her.

"Jun Hyde...", she replied, her black shoulder length hair fell back into her eyes.

As Jorge urged Hyde to go with them, Carter stood in the doorway and watched his Chief Warrant Officer calm her and prepare her for the next few weeks."Ready?", Carter asked after 20 minutes.

"Yes, sir. . . Hyde is going to get dressed and pack anything she wants to take. Right ?", at the last word Jorge turned his head to the girl, and she nodded back.

"Don't pack clothes or food, we've got those.", Carter advised, closing the door behind Jorge, after he had squeezed out of the room. I doubt she'll have trouble saying goodbye, thought the Commander.

Jorge and Carter ascended the stairs to see how the operation was going from there. Noble Team was packed up and ready to bail. Emile was already standing by the front door, doing nothing. Kat and Jun were interrogating the Jekyll couple, to no apparent avail. Thom, the second lieutenant of the team, was chatting with Mason Jekyll, who wore a grim expression, and glared at Carter as he walked past.

Carter had to think. Mason was probably the only thing that would keep Hyde from going with them. The UNSC needed her. She held valuable information about the Covenant and the attack on Sarah V, the planet she had been on when it was glassed, mercilessly destroyed by the hostile alien Covenant. Jun Hyde was famous among the higher ranks of the military, because the destruction of Sarah V was thought to be absolute. How had a child been able to survive it? Despite her fame, little was known about her. The family of Hyde, her gender, full name, and age were complete mysteries, as well as her whereabouts. Carter was high enough in rank to have heard of Hyde and received this mission, which was supposed to be carried out without the rest of the squad knowing the true intent, but the Lieutenant Commander 'over heard ' some 'irrelevant' chatter on a locked radio channel, and informed the rest of Noble .

It wasn't long before Hyde emerged from the basement, carrying a army green medic bag and, wearing a leather jacket under an air force jacket, with combat boots and jeans."I'm ready.",Hyde stated, then turned to Mason for a second,"See you around."

"Yeah. Sorry. I'll try to call you, if I can.", and he waved to her as she turned and Thom led her out the door. The cold night air seemed to be amplified by the cold silver light of the full moon. Rags of clouds whisked over the stars ,casting ominous shadows on the fields of wheat around the little house. The six Spartans loaded into the van. Thom got in the driver's seat and started the radio, turning it to an station playing the Beatles. Emile commented ," You still listening' to that junk, Lieutenant? "Carter got in the front passenger seat, and the rest loaded into the back seats.

Terrifying images drifted in and out of Hyde's mind as the line between sleep and consciousness grew less obvious. The Covenant above her. . ."I'll be right back, promise. ", vows her mother, as Hyde begs her to stay," Don't go up there! The monsters are there! MOOOOOM!" , and then her mother's sweeping black hair disappears forever through the basement door, and there's a huge thing standing in the door way... the mouth opening outward in four sections, howling as another, smaller thing shoots it from behind . . . a human thing . . . a Spartan ? ? The Spartan shook her awake, calling, "Are you okay?"

" Yeah. . . tired, still.", Hyde mumbled.

"Well, we did get you up at midnight. As soon as we get to the rest point, you can sleep. ", Jorge assured her. Hyde asked where the 'rest point' was. Jorge answered, "Some hotel a ways out. You'll stay there while we finish our next mission.", and then he didn't say anything else for the whole drive. Hyde just listened to I Will Follow You Into The Dark on the radio and tried to stay awake.

How long until there was something that made sense in her life? Hyde still didn't understand the glassing she lost her family in. And what about her sister? Hadn't she left the planet with her? Or did she get left behind?

**Please review, and tell me if I should rewrite or not. **


	2. Chapter 2

**If you are choosing to read this far, that means you sort of enjoyed the first chapter. Thank you so much for clicking next chapter. I really can only be more grateful if you review. Thank you. **

Carter was in a quiet conversation with Kat, who kept glancing at Hyde. Finally, Kat said, " When we arrive at the check point, I'm going to ask you some questions, I need you to answer as well as you can."

"Uh, okay? " , she replied. The drive turned from smooth to bumpy for a while after that. The wheat fields rushed by silently, until a thunderclap alerted everyone of the storm. The wind grew fierce and strong in a few miles, the rain pounded into the van and even soaked through in a couple places, chilly wet water that you never could get out of your bones. The repetitiveness of it caught Hyde off guard, and before she could help it, she'd drifted into a deep, undisturbed sleep.

"Wake up. We're here.", ordered Kat. The female Spartan III pulled Hyde out of the van , "We've got the rooms checked, so I'll ask you some questions while the est of the squad figures out how to get food here . . ." The two women walked into the hotel, a cheap looking place that made you think bedbugs. The elevator played an old song Hyde liked called Jumper. At the thirtieth story,the elevator stopped and the pair walked down the hall with toothpaste green wall paper, and entered a room numbered 912. The room was like the rest of the hotel, cheap and decorated in bad taste. 'At least there's no bedbugs', thought Hyde. There were two huge beds, a Hide-abed in the sofa, TV, alarm clock, bible, the normal hotel fare.

Kat pulled up a chair for Hyde and sat down across from her. " Ready ? "Hyde nodded.

"Your family was killed in a glassing, correct?"

"Yes."

"On what planet ? Tell me about that planet."

" Sarah V. It was an agricultural planet, part of the Watashi system. It had a lot of wheat, rice, grains mostly, sorta like this one. It was fairly big, about the size of Reach, maybe bigger. The weather was really steady, almost always the right temperature to grow and harvest, it was pretty rare that a crop got ruined. ", I can do it if these questions keep on like this, Hyde realized.

"This happened when ?"

" It started around harvesting time, when everyone was outside working. I was at home helping my mom and sister make bread with the wheat we were paid with. We sold some of those to make money for the family. My father was harvesting a couple of miles away when we heard it. Early in the morning,everyone was already up, and at work already. We assumed a machine was malfunctioning, or something, so we called my dad's cellphone to see what was going on. He didn't answer, so my mother drove to the field where he should have been, and about an hour later she came speeding back, yelling at us to grab some things and get in the cellar.", that was more than what she asked for, but that'll spare me some questions, Hyde thought.

" Alright, what kind of supplies did your mother have you grab? How deep was the cellar? What was the noise like? Did you see anything unusual before you got in the cellar?", Kat recited like she had been rehearsing this very moment for years.

Hyde took a deep breath. She could see this getting very difficult very quickly, "She had us grab some grains, bread, canned stuff. We already had a pretty good amount of food stored away down there, so we didn't take more than we could carry in one go. Our cellar was about 50 yards deep, and sealed off so no gases or liquids could leak into it.", This is getting really hard, she figured. Taking a deep breath before continuing, "The noise . . .it was a distant purr at first, before you could see anything. While my mom was gone, the sky turned light purple, and the noise grew louder and louder. By the time we closed the cellar, it was so loud you couldn't think. It really sounds like nothing else. You can't compare it to anything. Those are really the only unusual things I can point out."

Kat thought so long on the next questions Hyde wondered if they were finished, but finally she spoke, "How long were you and your family in there?"

"I don't know.", I don't like this.

"Can you tell me what happened to your mother and sister and how you were rescued?"

I do not like this at all. Hyde's thought's were blank for a second, then: "My sister and I were running out of food. Some nights we could here the fire raging above us, but we hadn't heard any for awhile. Mom was going up to see if she could scavenge anything, and see if she could find the people we had heard walking over the cellar door lately.

"So our mom left even though we really, really didn't want her to. It was hours and maybe days before we heard Mom walking across the cellar door. We were so ecstatic we did one thing she had told us to never do- opened it before knowing who was there and without her with us. It turned out it didn't matter, if we had called out, we would've been screwed anyway. We opened it inwards, let the dust and ash fall inside the shelter and coat us. Some of it burned. We should have died, we were to late in seeing that it was an Elite. . .I don't really remember much of the next few moments. It was loud and confusing, but at the end of it my sister and I were in a plane and being taken care of by a bunch of Marines. We were taken to this planet and put up for adoption, but for some reason my sister was never put up with me. I don't know what happened to her."

Kat nodded,and said, "That will do for now. When you get to the base, you'll be entered into a rehab program for people who have been through the same as you, and probably questioned further. A word of advice: answer those questions in detail, do it without hesitation, and be honest. Try and keep a blank face, those officials are going to use everything against you, so don't give them anything to make them put you in a mental hospital. If you need help of some kind, there is a person for that somewhere, and that person will be your friend. Do good, but for now, get some rest.", Kat stood up, and handed Hyde an undershirt and shorts to sleep in.

'This hotel room has a horrid view.',Hyde observed. The window was covered with the thick smog that every city created with it's pollution. Even the harvesting town Hyde used to live in had this, although she never saw it like this, because there were no tall buildings. Actually, Hyde couldn't remember many times she'd been in a building this high. She used to co-pilot small planes over the fields to make sure no fires started, or to check on progress. People would even pay her and her captain, the pilot, to take them up to watch the harvest.

Hyde changed and cleaned herself up in the bathroom as best she could, showering, and brushing her hair and teeth. The bed looked so inviting, she climbed into it as soon as she got out of the bathroom. The sheets were soft and the covers heavy, so she fell into REM sleep right away.

The cellar door was being pounded on more vividly than she remembered. Hana looked at her excitedly, and mouthed "Mom's back!". She jumped up and they pulled with all their weight to open the heavy wooden doors. Instead of being embraced by their mother, a huge creature taller than any man holding strange purple things that glowed and vibrated nearly fell on them. It opened a horrible mouth that split into four different flaps lined with teeth and let out an inhuman roar. The creature shot a ball of burning light out of the purple thing at them, and it seared across Hyde's leg, and made her yell. The roaring beast aimed again at Hyde, who was sure she was done, and the moment lasted unbearably long before something louder ripped it apart and things resumed the normal timing. The monster fell to the ground by Hyde with a dull thud. Something huge took its place, but this cast a much smaller shadow. The huge thing was a person, Hana and Hyde hadn't seen anyone else in ages. He encouraged the girls to walk with him, but he didn't say how far. The words he spoke were not heard individually, but meaning came across clear enough in their spinning heads-keep going. While Hyde walked, she looked around at the fields that stretched out past the horizon. Instead of waves of gold, planes rumbling in the skies, and the assurance that Father would be home tonight were burnt, glowing embers that burned her feet through her boots. The ground was black and oozed in places, and glowed orange until it couldn't be seen. It felt like several hours before they sat down to rest, someone gave them some water and took care of the long burn on Hyde's leg. They all started moving when more balls of purple, burning light showered on the group of soldiers. Hana and Hyde were swept up in the rush to a plane, and safely strapped in. The plane took off straight up even though one machine gun still fired at the aliens. The big man had stayed behind.

As the plane that looked like it shouldn't be able to fly, with the short wings and fat body, pushed harder and harder through the atmosphere, the air pushed back into Hyde. She closed her eyes and looked at her home one last time: the huge fields of grain, her father harvesting, her mother and sister baking, and she was flying a small plane over it all. There was a big man shooting a gun in the fields, keeping the aliens away. The plane steadied, and took on the buzz of people in the morning, with the smell of coffee. The Spartan from her dream leaned over her bed and said," Wake up." There was a moment where Jorge looked just like the Spartan that had saved her. But that Spartan was dead, a revered figure of the past.

It was cold in the hotel room, and Hyde didn't feel a strong urge to pull out of her dream completely, even if it wasn't a good dream. The blankets were warm, the room quiet, and she exhausted. Why move?

"Come on. Early rising is a part of military life.", Jorge flung the blankets off her, and grabbed her under her arms, setting her in the desk chair, "Well, wake up! We've got another mission to deal with here and then we'll be droppin' ya off at the base! Ya might be here a while before we come back—just stay close to here, alright?"

Hyde nodded her consent. Just what I wanted, she thought as the last Spartan walked out the door. A little bit of time to herself. Anywhere in the whole city, China Town, Main Street. . .oh, what couldn't she do?!

After sitting in a half sleep for twenty minutes, Hyde got into the shower and changed clothes. The clothes they had left her were, as expected, plain and military style. There was a brown tank-top, a pair of army green pants, and a pair of brown hiking boots. She laced up and grabbed her bag, thinking people would be thinking she was a recruit going home.

The hallway was as typical as you can get In a hotel. Beige walls, a framed photo of something you could spot if you looked out the window. The carpet partially muffled her steps as she entered the elevator and jammed the ground floor button with her fist. How good it would be, to feel the rush of the city, the coldness of hundreds of people at once. That was what gave her a rush, survival in the city was survival of not the fittest, but the most clever. That struggle to keep moving and rising to face the next problem was more thrilling than the country. There was so much to see in the city.

Hyde found help with finding China Town, and headed there right away. Soon, the big red gates showed her in, and she entered nearly every store. There was a huge grocery store full of Asian foods, where she bought some food to cook up that night. Her bag used to be covered in pins, but they were lost when her planet was glassed. She held a satisfaction in rebuilding her collection, and she blew a good deal of her money on all kinds of pons—pins from anime, manga, and a few more traditional style ones with Japanese characters on it. Soon enough, half of the front of her bag was covered in ins. It didn't quite yield the same satisfaction as did her previous pins, which were scavenged from places across her Sarah V.

It was all the same, Hyde thought, every planet has its people. And one day they will all die. Another haven will need to be sought out by the remainder of a glassed planet. How long would it take to find a safe place to hide? The safety of her mother's arms was so far away, such a distant memory it could never be recovered or reproduced. She knew that, since the day her mother died, she would never feel comfortable in anyone's arms—it was an unmistakable, nostalgic, thought of the past that would do her no good in the future. So she buried it.

Dinner was slow coming. The cooking, that is. When was the last time she'd cooked? Before she was adopted, that was for sure. Then, while she paid countless time in the basement cell, her meals were brought to her, for her to eat in solitude.

Oh, it had been a cell. What else was that dark room, below the tumult and redundant daily life? A home? Hardly. Could it have been a refuge if she had tried hard enough? Even if she did try, it would be futile. That's why, even when they threatened her, she did not try, she did not try to blot out the memories of her friends, her peers, her teachers, her family. They all died on the same planet she had escaped. And the only one she knew who was not melted into the planet was her sister, She was lost though, on this confusing new planet that was just beginning to show her it's face.

Finally, she was free again, not tortured by memories trapped in the room with her, no deserts to cross or men to live behind. What was left of her other than those memories? Just a skin, a shell. Hyde was nobody. . .

"How long have you been gone?", Carter demanded in not the tone of a reproving parent, but that of a disciplining commander. Arms crossed, in armor, he was quite formidable. Just the way a teenager rebel would answer, Hyde did,

"Out."

Carter sighed, "We specifically ordered you to stay put. Why did you leave?"

In reply, Hyde spoke, '' Because, sir. . .I've spent enough time locked up.", she ended with aloud sniffle. Hyde's cheeks were noticeably red, her face was hot. Her head was clogged and slow. She wanted to lie down, go to sleep. It wasn't that she wanted to argue, she was so tired she settled on the bed and closed her eyes, coughing.

"Are you sick?", Carter inquired. It was just the two of them in the room, which made Hyde very uncomfortable. While he was the commander of Noble Team, and had a reputation to uphold, he was still a Spartan. Spartans were known for being stressed and occasionally hostile to civilians. But he seemed relatively relaxed, despite being angry.

"Yeah. I caught a cold.", Hyde managed between coughs to say, "I should get over it in a couple of days. . ." With that, she was done, whether Noble One was going to ask more questions or not. It was so easy to close her eyes and go to sleep. . .

. . .for a time, she slept. Hyde glanced at the clock, hopeful, but quickly disappointed. She had only slept two hours. That was the trouble, you needed sleep and rest, that was the only way to really heal and escape the pains of sickness, but always, always, sleep was playful, mischievous, out of reach.

Hard to walk, Hyde thought blearily, stumbling to the bathroom. The paper cup filled and emptied, but still her throat was dry in a painful. Burning way. Even breathing hurt. Blood pounded through her ears,

deafening and painful. The bathroom light stung her red eyes and increased the throbbing headache that threatened to grow. Her lymph nodes were angrily swollen to a point turning her head hurt.

There was no refusing the big white pills Jorge gave hr every day, and no getting more. What were they doing? Medicine was useless, the only pills good enough were the ones that made her drunken and sleepy. Nights passed restless, in the gap between reality and dreams lay a dark nightmare, half played out, half waiting in the shadows. Things with deep, sharp claws tunneled through her veins, and screamed in her head.

Oblivious to the world outside of their pain, the sick are self centered and rightfully so. If you screamed at them, they would not feel even the most loving caress or hateful whispers. Maybe later they would thank you or fight with you of love you back, if they were well again. But the world they wanted to reside in was a background affect, a sound they wished they could hear louder. Anything was preferable to the torrential chaos that swept them from the earth and landed them in repetitive pain and agony.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is it. Hope you enjoyed the ride, and if you didn't, thanks for coming anyway! If you have suggestions for a rewrite, let me know and I will gladly redo this story! **

That said, it took two weeks for Hyde to recover, the morning she opened her eyes and did not hurt was one she was grateful for. For a moment, Hyde lay in bed, feeling the cool sheets, the sunlight coming through the curtains. . .and how weak she was. Her arms and legs wanted to stay put and they drug her back into unconsciousness. Sleep was heavy and black, long and empty. It was a restful rest, for a change.

Kat came into the room as Hyde was just waking up a second time, as the sun set behind her. "Feeling better? That was quite a bug you caught."

"Yeah, I'm alright. A little weak, but then. . .", Hyde didn't finish, just pulled on some clothes. Kat waited for her by the door, and the woman Spartan's greater height made Hyde appear like a child. They walked down the hall, Hyde following unthinkingly behind, keeping her chaperon in view, but not really seeing her. Hyde startled when Kat spoke, "You and I are going out to eat. Seeing as how you haven't eaten in a week, we'll go to a buffet. Like Chinese? "

"Uh, yeah! I live for Asian food!", Hyde exclaimed. Kat smirked.

"Aren't you full of energy?"

"How many plates have you eaten?!", Hyde almost yelled as Kat got up to fill her sixth plate to the spilling point. Hyde herself had eaten three plates, and felt immediately ill afterwards. Just watching the super-soldier eat so much was both fascinating and repulsive to the sick girl. She had never thought that along with the augmentations of their muscles, their appetites had grown as well.

It had felt good to eat. At first. Then it was a 'why did I eat that?' feeling, and a strong sense to go to sleep—again-was about her. Kat decided she was getting weird looks from the manager, not that she was imagining it, so she stood up and said, "Let's go, Hyde." They exited the restaurant and cool night air, refreshing and awakening, whooshed over them.

"Where's the rest of. . .your team.", Hyde asked, unsure of how to refer to the Spartan squad. Their official name was Noble Team, it seemed hard to call them by that name, for some reason. Like it would be harder to see them as human if she called them that. So many people thought Spartans were stoic, immortal statues that haunted the dreams of Insurrectionists and aliens, but meeting them, and spending time with them, she noticed how easily some of them bickered—like siblings.

"They took a day. Our last mission was. . .rough.", Kat replied, somewhat coldly, her jaw set. Hyde felt that the Lieutenant Commander was angry at her. Fair enough, Hyde had been sick and needed nursing.

"Um. . .did anyone get hurt?", Hyde asked shyly, worried that Kat would snap at her.

"No more than usual. It was just stressful. But Spartans are made to handle stress. Don't worry about it."

Silence snuck up on them, and the city sounds became the first and foremost. Hyde loved those sounds. Of people loving. Hating. Dreaming, wishing, fighting. Even life in the city held a certain charm for the country girl. Only certain parts set her teeth on edge. But she loved the feeling of impending danger, unpredictability as she passed by bars, groups of men and women smoking, jeering.

There was a taboo sexuality about the city that came from the people, that the buildings and atmosphere soaked up. People in the city were prideful, of the way they looked, acted, thought. And why not be? Why sit, waiting for the wheat to grow, so you can work and harvest it? Why not have fun? Don't be like those country dopes, enjoy yourself. Why do country people, so affectionately dubbed, act as they do? Because they have to.

Kat was unnerved by the city. Her heightened senses picked up so many dirty sounds and sights that Hyde could not. How could men and women be so dirty? It wasn't not that Kat was so innocent as to think men were gods, she was just astounded, as anyone would be, at the vulgarity of the city. Underneath the flashy lights and sounds, drugs, people, were being sold and bought. The city represented the force Kat was fighting, Insurrectionists surely inhabited the place and bought their drugs here. So she felt pinned, between the upper layers of redundant city days and the darker, more sinister layer that has to be taken with water, like a bad tasting pill that doesn't cure anything.

If that was why the city was so obviously appealing to Hyde, Kat didn't understand. How did that little girl view these things? Did her eyes see things in an innocent way, or did she see what was behind the walls?

Hyde briefly wondered on the complexities of the city's grid, how all the streets and buildings fit together perfectly, how uniform they appeared from above. Even the chaotic humans that filled the city formed patterns and flows that were invisible to you on the ground.

"So what's gonna happen to me?", Hyde asked suddenly.

Kat turned to her, surprised at first, then answered, "Probably a mental institution.

Taken aback, betrayed, angry. What else was she expected to feel?, Kat thought. It's not like she blamed Hyde, as she disappeared into the crowd, her head and squared shoulders escaping to where they needed to be. Kat didn't want to stop her, there was no real need. Hyde had no information for them, and she would have been better off in that basement.

Hyde's anger was washed away by the rain that cleared the gutters. The Spartans that saved her freed her were a constant on her busy mind. Well, it was another rainy day, wasn't it? It was so nice to see the sky again.


	4. Chapter 4

Kat had not pursued her, did not even seem to follow her. Why?, Hyde wondered, then decided to keep moving. There was no point going back. The Spartans she had revered for years had let her down. They were only following orders, just like the big man from so long ago.

Hyde wanted to have friends. She wanted to see her old friend Yume. But Yume was probably dead. They would never even find her body. The whole planet was glass now, scarred beyond recognition. Like Hyde herself. There had been tales form nearby planets that they could see Sarah V glowing purple the nights it was glassed, it was too bright during the day to see it, except on the last day, when it cast a purple glow to the day's light.

_What would I have thought?_, Hyde wondered, _What would I have felt? _Despair? She would never know rest, only running, running from everything. How could she know what feelings were like anymore? She just had to shut them all out, it hurt too much to feel. At least there was still one person alive that she could turn to.

_Herself, always and only. _


	5. Author's Note ( a little crazed )

This isn't a chapter but more a 'behind the scenes' sorta section. . .

I came up with the idea for this story. . .Now that I'm writing this, I really don't remember. Great. What am I gonna write here now?

I know that the story was kind of odd, I mean, why on Reach would Noble Team be worrying about ONE CIVILIAN that was in ONE GLASSING like ANY OTHER glassing? It's far-fetched. Spartan IIIs are supposed to be sent on suicide missions, not babysitting missions.

The part where she was sick was boring, I know, but if you read my stuff on fictionpress you will realize I like to write about PAIN.

The ending was weak as well. She just walks away. And what happens to her sister? Maybe that will be a sequel, and then the third story will be they find each other?! OO Awesome beak, man.

Sorry if this was a waste of your time, but I need to get more out there to all of you.

This was my first fan fiction EVER. Obviously, I edited it, but most of the story is the same. Also, I started writing it on notepad which is THE WORST POSSIBLE writing program you can use. DON'T GET ME STARTED.

Someone told me the story was good 'cos it wasn't 'just another shooter', and that's what I value about it. We we've seen the Spartans play superhero, we've seen ODSTs jump into hell, we've read about Cortana's rampany Jorge KNOWS how many times. I wanted something different. I couldn't find it. So I gave it to myself.

I offer more, um, experiences in my other story 'a collection of recollections', and I kinda laugh at myself about that one. . .

If you enjoyed this story, I hope you continue to read my fan fics and give me feed back. Just don't be mean, cos "trust me. . .payback''s a bitch."


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